In the best of times pastoral ministry is a challenging vocation. After all, one of the first duties of a faithful minister is to announce bad news in public. Pastors are among the first to hear when something has gone wrong in the congregation, when someone has become seriously ill or died. Ministry has become even more difficult during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading →
This episode (#274) begins the 13th season of Office Hours. This semester Westminster Seminary California began its 41st year and the original primary purpose is still the primary purpose: to prepare men for pastoral ministry. It is the seminary’s conviction that it . . . Continue reading →
When most of us think about the great Reformed theologians we probably think of John Calvin. Perhaps we think of John Owen, and Charles Hodge. If we think a little harder we might think of Zacharias Ursinus, who gave us the Heidelberg . . . Continue reading →
Much of modern evangelical theology, piety, and practice, is not driven by Scripture as much as it is driven by history. Many evangelicals assume, as I once did, that the altar call is a biblical practice. They do not know, as I . . . Continue reading →
The Bible is a big book. That’s what J. I. Packer told us seminary students in 1987. He was right. Not only that but it was written over 1,500 years, in three different languages, in multiple settings, under multiple governments, by multiple . . . Continue reading →
If you are of sufficient age, you remember when Caitlyn Jenner was Bruce Jenner, one of the greatest Olympic Athletes in modern history. He won the gold medal in the Decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. If you are a little younger you . . . Continue reading →
Kim Riddlebarger is an outstanding figure in the contemporary Reformed world for a few reasons. You might know him as the co-host of the White Horse Inn for 25 years and contributor to Modern Reformation magazine or you might also know him . . . Continue reading →
Chuck Tedrick is no stranger to Office Hours. He first appeared on Office Hours in 2009, season 1, episode 3, as a student at Westminster. Then he appeared in season 8, episode 22. Before coming to Westminster he studied at BIOLA University . . . Continue reading →
The beginning of the Fall semester for the academic year 2020–21 marked the beginning of the 40th year of Westminster Seminary California. In 1980 we were in an office complex in San Marcos, CA and in the fall of 1984 we began . . . Continue reading →
Forty years ago this fall semester, Westminster Seminary California welcomed its first incoming class of students. Our founding faculty members began to retire about 20 years ago. Now some of our second generation faculty have retired or been called to serve the . . . Continue reading →
Steve Baugh has been teaching Greek and New Testament at Westminster Seminary California since 1982. When he enrolled as a Master of Divinity student in 1982, the campus was located in San Marcos, CA, in an office building. We did not move . . . Continue reading →
A shameless rip off of the famous BBC radio series, Desert Island Discs, where the host asks famous Britons about the albums they would want with them on a deserted island, in season 3 I asked my faculty colleagues which books they . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed churches, confessions, and theologians have a high doctrine of the Holy Spirit. From the earliest days of the Reformation the Reformed devoted much time and energy to the person and work of the Spirit but they did so in a . . . Continue reading →
In the introduction to his new volume, Politics After Christendom: Political Theology in a Fractured World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020) David VanDrunen defines a term and a concept that we must understand: Christendom. By Christendom I mean the vision of Christian . . . Continue reading →
Our Lord Jesus called the church to make disciples (Matt 28:18–20) and he even ordained means by which we might become disciples and grow in our discipleship. The Apostles followed this pattern (Acts 2:42; Rom 10:14). Nevertheless, when we think about discipleship . . . Continue reading →
Since the arrival of the capital M Modern world, beginning in the mid-17th century, one of the persistent points of friction between orthodox Christianity and Modernity has been the Christian doctrine that Jesus is the only way to heaven and eternal life. . . . Continue reading →
The word “heart” is a truly important word in the English language. In the introduction to his new book, With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ, Westminster Seminary California’s Craig Troxel observes that one can have a . . . Continue reading →
One of the great benefits of studying at Westminster Seminary California is the opportunity it gives both faculty and students to meet and learn from scholars from all over the world. This week we were blessed to have on campus to speak . . . Continue reading →
There are few figures more central to the history of the West than Martin Luther (1486–1546). Without him there would have been no Reformation, or at least it would have looked very differently. The confessional Protestant churches, i.e., Lutherans and the Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Long-time listeners to Office Hours will know the name Fikret Bocek. I interviewed him back in 2010. Here we are nine years later, and Fikret is still with us. That is no small thing, as you will hear. He is a 1998 . . . Continue reading →